Michael Grabell ProPublica

The Department of Labor is calling for an "exploration" of federal oversight of state workers' compensation laws because of "inadequacies of the system," leaving workers with "limited benefits."

An Oklahoma law that lets employers opt out of state-regulated workers' compensation has been rejected and declared unconstitutional by state regulators.

The Oklahoma Workers' Compensation Commission called the alternative workplace-benefit plans that some employers adopted under the law "a water mirage on the highway that disappears upon closer inspection."

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Updated 7:30 p.m. ET with Kline comment

Ten ranking Democrats on key Senate and House committees are urging the Labor Department to respond to a "pattern of detrimental changes in state workers' compensation laws" that have reduced protections and benefits for injured workers over the past decade.

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State laws in both Oklahoma and Texas allow employers to develop their own workplace injury plans that generally cover fewer injuries, cut off benefits payments sooner and control access to doctors.

California's labor department says it will conduct an audit of how Travelers Insurance handled the case of paralyzed worker Joel Ramirez, who was left to fend for himself for months after the company withdrew his 24-hour home health care.

Ramirez was featured in a ProPublica/NPR investigation of state ...

Injured workers who are dependent on workers' compensation have faced eroding benefits. We go to Alabama and Georgia, where the value of an amputated arm is $700,000 more just across the state line.

Over the past decade, states have slashed workers' compensation benefits, denying injured workers help when they need it most and shifting the costs of workplace accidents to taxpayers.